When I was a few weeks out of Basic Training, I weighed 163 pounds. The rest of my time in the Army, I weighed about 185 pounds (the limit for my height). When I graduated from college, I weighed 215 pounds. About two years ago, when I was discharged from the hospital after appendicitis and kidney surgery, I weighed 209 pounds.
Other than that, I’ve pretty much spent my adult life between 230 and 250, overweight by at least 50 pounds by any reasonable measure. I’ve tried lots of diets and exercise plans, with limited success. Before Christmas, I had worked my way down to 228, but I gained almost ten pounds by the time January rolled around.
Lately, I’ve been doing this crazy thing, ‘counting calories’, they call it. I use My Fitness Pal to accomplish this — it is a pretty decent (and free) app with some really nice features.
A great app for calorie counting
My favorite thing about it is that, as you complete each day, it gives you a projection, based on your calorie consumption for that day. For example, today I consumed about 100 calories less than my allotment, so they are fairly hopeful:
If every day were like today… You’d weigh 224.1 lbs in 5 weeks
I actually sort of like this calorie counting thing, although I can see how it will get old, quickly. I am just now finished with my second week of following this plan, and I like the freedom it gives me to eat the things I really enjoy.
For example, a cup of cookies and cream ice cream ‘costs’ me about 260 calories, worth it every time.
Kathy and I have also been using RunKeeper on our phones — we linked it to My Fitness Pal so it carries the calories from our exercise over and adds it to our allotment. So if you eat too much for supper, and you don’t have enough calories for ice cream, you can go for a quick walk and earn the calories you need. I speak hypothetically, of course.
So far, I’ve lost about 6 pounds — not bad for two weeks of being mostly careful (except for the donuts and deep-fried seafood I had with David during our weekend away).
Somehow, I don’t mind being hungry during the day if there is ice cream waiting for me in the evening. I’ll do nearly anything to get ice cream. Let’s have another look at tonight’s treat, which is waiting for me, as soon as I finish this blog post:
I’ve gotten pretty adept at packing it into the metal measuring cup with my hydraulic press.
On the left side of our blog, we continue to track our weight loss challenge for this summer. Sarah is right behind me … I’d better watch my step, or I’ll fall to last place again.
Project 365, Day 131
Tim
Ahhh, I finally got it: “counting” your blessings. I’m a little slow. It is nice there are gimmicks and gadgets out there to help us in these things. Since I stopped my gym membership and its accompanying tracking system for exercise I’ve been horrible at exercising, and I think the lack of the albeit mechanical accountability is part of the reason. Keep up the good losing!
Thank you for the encouragement, beloved sister-in-law. You and Mark have been such a good example to me in your discipline and perseverance. I wish you lived nearby.
I will catch up to you, Dad!!
We’ll see about that, girlie!
Ahhhh. After all these years I’m finally realizing, this is where I get my love for ice cream!
Impressed with each of you and your goals. I have great goals – I’m just not seeing great progress. LOL